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ACM Quick User Guide - Models

Configuration Management (CM) is the specification of allowable as-designed asset assemblies (“Models”) and/or as-maintained physical builds. It can also mean the process of ensuring that actual asset physical builds meet the requirements of an allowable configuration. Functional builds may also be represented (for example, an “electronic systems only” view of the equipment). For the purposes of this “Models” application design, we take the rigorous view that Configuration Management refers only to reference data (i.e. the configurations themselves).

The primary entity involved in CM is the Model. The Model's name is the overall name given to an allowable physical build, or family of related physical builds. Once a Model is established, the physical build of a Model can be specified, variations of a Model can be described, and so on.

Well, let's get to understand it better.

What is and how to create a Model?

Maximo Asset Configuration Manager is based on the configuration management of Models which can be understood as the most general organization definition of a component hierarchy.Before creating a Model we should create the "CM Item".In Maximo Asset Configuration Manager, the "CM Item" is used to refer to a part number instance in the CM Item Master catalog.This CM Item Master catalog is related to the base Maximo Item Master, but these two terms are not the same or interchangeable.In our example, the F-22 model will use 3 CM Items:- F-22 (Airframe)- PW100 (PW Engine)- SG100 (Starter Generator)

Note: These steps will create:- a Model record- a Build Item of F-22 to represent the airframe- a default Label for the Airframe- a CM Item of F-22 to represent the new model in the CM Item Master catalog

Steps to create a CM Item:- Go to -> Asset Configuration Manager -> CM Item Master (CM)Step 1: Click on the New CM Item buttonStep 2: Enter the Part as PW-100 or SG-100 (F-22 will be created when you create F-22 model)Step 3: Tab to the Description field and enter itStep 4: Click on the Save button.Repeat the steps above to create all the required CM Items.

Steps to create a Model:- Go to -> Asset Configuration Manager -> Models (CM)Step 1: Click on the New Model buttonStep 2: Enter the Model as F-22Step 3: Tab to the Description field and enter itStep 4: Click on the Save button.

What are Build Items for ?

A Build Item is a collection of CM Items and Labels with the same description that can be associated with Model's Build Position.

Before adding a Build Item, we need to know: What are Labels for? So, each Build Item has a list of one or more “labels” associated with it. The list of labels related to a build item is manually maintained by the user on this tab.

Note: You can take the same Model that we created on this step above (“What is and how to create a Model?”).

Note: Normally this list of Build Positions is managed as a hierarchy on the "Build Hierarchy" tab, but this list shows all build positions, including orphans.

And what is a Build Hierarchy?A Build Position is a physical position on a Model where a component can be installed. For example, the F-22 Raptor's Airframe will have two engine positions (a Left and a Right engine), and each engine will have a Starter Generator position.

Steps to set the Build Hierarchy:Step 1: In the Models (CM) application, click on the Build Hierarchy tab.Step 2: Click on the Airframe, and click the New Child button.Step 3: Enter the Build Item as TURBOFAN (or select from the lookup)Step 4: Enter the Position as L for Left (or select from the lookup)Step 5: Click the OK buttonStep 6: Click the Refresh button, and the Airframe's + (expand) button. Repeat steps 2 – 6 for: Build Item: TURBOFAN, Position: R

Now add the Starter Generators for each engine:Step 7: Click on the one of the engines, and click the New Child button.Step 8: Enter the Build Item as STARTER GENERATOR (or select from the lookup).Step 9: Click on the OK button.Repeat steps 7 – 9 for the other engine.Step 10: Click on the Save button.

What are Configurations and Variations?

A model configuration has 2 components:1. Variation – a version of the base configuration tailored for a specific design or equipment list, or role/mission.2. Revision – a linear snapshot of the model's configuration over time.

When a Model is first created, the system creates a Base Variation and a Revision 0.Typically the Base Variation is not used as an operational configuration, as it represents a superset of all other variations. However, for this example, we will setup the Base Variation as the (only) valid configuration of the F-22 Raptor model.

Steps to set the Configurations/ Variations:Step 1: In the Models (CM) application, click on the Configurations tab.Step 2: Uncheck the Abstract checkbox for the "F-22 RAPTOR - Base Variation" in the Configuration Node table.This means we will be able to use this Variation as an operational Variation. However the Status is still DRAFT.Step 3: From the Select Action menu, select the "Change Variation Status" option.Step 4: Select the New Status as ACTIVE and click the OK button.Step 5: Click on the Save button.

The Base Variation should now look like this (i.e. not Abstract, and ACTIVE).

Basically, we already have a Model.

I hope you like this article, feel free to comment, share your experiences.